Evgeni Stepantsov

Growth of YBa2Cu3O7 films with 100 tilt of CuO planes to the surface on SrTiO3 crystals

YBa2Cu3O7 films with the CuO plane tilted to the surface have been grown on SrTiO3 crystalline substrates by pulsed laser deposition. This tilt was obtained by rotating the film lattice with respect to the substrate surface around its [110] axis oriented parallel to the surface. The zero tilt of the CuO plane was implemented at the orientation of the SrTiO3 crystal surface parallel to the (100) plane. The rotation angles were varied in the range from 0° to 70°. It is found that, being tilted at any angle, the CuO planes of the film remain parallel to one or several crystallographic planes of the (100)-type substrate. In the range of tilt angles from 0° to 49°, the film has a single-crystal structure. Above 49° the film is transformed into a three-domain texture and its surface roughness sharply increases.

Terahertz spectroscopy with a Josephson oscillator and a SINIS bolometer

The voltage response of a thin-film normal-metal hot-electron bolometer based on a SINIS (superconductor-insulator-normal metal-insulator-superconductor) structure to the radiation of a high-temperature Josephson junction in the terahertz frequency region was measured. Bolometers were integrated with planar log-periodic and double-dipole antennas, and Josephson junctions were integrated with log-periodic antennas. Measurements showed that the Josephson junction at a temperature of 260 mK was overheated by the transport current, so that its electron temperature exceeded 3 K at a bias voltage of 1 mV. The maximum response of a bolometer with a double-dipole antenna was observed at a frequency of 300 GHz, which agreed well with the calculated value. The Josephson radiation was observed at frequencies up to 1.7 THz. The voltage response of a bolometer reached 4×108 V/W, and the total noise-equivalent power reached 1.5×10−17 W/Hz1/2.

Submillimeter-wave Josephson spectroscopy

A Josephson high-temperature superconducting (HTSC) submillimeter-wave spectrometer is designed, built, and experimentally investigated. The integrated detection structure of the spectrometer includes a YBCO Josephson junction on a bicrystalline boundary, a double-slot or log-periodic antenna, and a low-inductance resistive shunt. The selective detector response and the response at an intermediate frequency of 1.4 GHz are measured under the action of a signal in the frequency range 350–1250 GHz. Three methods of spectroscopy are investigated using this setup: 1) a method of Hilbert spectroscopy with processing of the detector response is implemented; 2) it is found that for a wide Josephson line at intermediate frequency (IF) the response has the same form as the detector response, making it possible to obtain a spectrum and the width of the generation line from IF response measurements; 3) for a narrow Josephson line the IF response corresponds to the regime of conversion with self-pumping. A new method is proposed for calculating the emission spectrum. The method consists of simple shift, summation, and subtraction operations. The advantages of the method are simplicity, high sensitivity, and high resolution.

Investigation into the growth and structure of thin-film solid solutions of iron-based superconductors in the FeSe0.92-FeSe0.5Te0.5 system

Thin films of FeSe0.92 and FeSe0.5Te0.5 iron chalcogenide superconductors and solid solutions containing these components in different ratios have been grown on the surface of LaAlO3 (10

Ablation replacement of iron with Co, Mn, Ni, and Cu during growth of iron-based superconductor films in the Fe0.9M0.1Se0.92 system

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Growth of Bicrystal Films of YBa2Cu3O7 High-Temperature Superconductor, with CuO Planes Tilted by up to 90°, on SrTiO3 Crystals

2) crystals by pulsed laser deposition. Films of solid solutions have been deposited by simultaneous laser ablation from two targets of the FeSe0.92 and FeSe0.5Te0.5 stoichiometric compositions onto one substrate. An X-ray diffraction study of the film structure shows that the films grown are epitaxial and their lattice parameters regularly vary with the ratio of the deposited components, which was controllably varied by changing the ablation intensities from the targets.

Electron microscopy of iron chalcogenide FeTe(Se) films

Thin films of iron-based chalcogenide superconductors FeSe0.92, with iron partially replaced (at least up to 10 at %) by elements such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, or copper, have been grown on the surface of

Mesoscopic Josephson Junctions of high-Tc Superconductors

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Josephson dynamics of bicrystald-waveYBa2Cu3O7−δdc-SQUIDs

LaAlO3 crystals. Growth is performed by the laser ablation of a target prepared in the form of a ceramic pellet by high-temperature synthesis and the sintering of preliminarily pressed stoichiometric mixture of powders. Iron in these ceramics is replaced with an alloying metal by no more than 3 at %. The rest (7 at %) of the metal is in the form of precipitates of other phases. X-ray diffraction analysis of the grown films has shown that they are single-crystal and free of any precipitates of other crystallographic orientations and phases. This is evidence of the complete (10 at %) replacement of iron with a doping metal in the film structure. This circumstance indicates that the synthesis of components occurs more actively and completely during laser ablation (than in solid-phase chemical reactions) as a result of the transformation of multicomponent target material into plasma. Thus, one can fabricate film materials in a wider range of chemical compositions than in the form of solid-phase synthesized ceramics.

Josephson dynamics of bicrystal d-wave YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7δ dc-SQUIDs

Bicrystal substrates, in which (100) planes in both single-crystal parts are rotated with respect to the surface by different angles around the [100] and [110] directions (parallel simultaneously to both the surface and bicrystal boundary), have been fabricated by solid-phase intergrowth on SrTiO3 crystals. Epitaxial bicrystal YBa2Cu3O7 films with different tilt angles of CuO planes to the surface have been grown on these bicrystals by pulsed laser deposition. The structure of these films has been investigated by X-ray diffraction. The films are shown to remain epitaxial when the film lattice is rotated from the position in which its (001) plane is oriented parallel to the surface by angles of up to 41° and 49° around the [100] and [110] axes, respectively. The possibility of growing bicrystal films of YBa2Cu3O7 high-temperature superconductor (HTSC), in which the CuO planes at different sides of the bicrystal boundary make different angles (up to 90°, which is the maximum possible angle from the symmetry point of view), has been demonstrated based on these data.